A new and unique community café is giving every customer the chance to buy a meal then pass another one on to someone else – for free.

Bean Good, a not-for-profit social enterprise, opened in Oldham town centre two weeks ago, providing freshly-cooked food and hot drinks in return for a donation.

When a customer donates £1.50 or more, they are given a token card which can be given to someone else, who can exchange it for another drink or meal – completely free of charge.

The café has been opened by Acorn Treatment, which is part of the Calico Group, and helps people recovering from drugs and alcohol addiction.

It is thought to be the only one of its kind in the country.

Bean Good Cafe

The café is on the first floor of Acorn’s indistinct offices in Brunswick House, on Union Street, away from the main shopping centre of Oldham.

Jill Webster, care and new business manager for Calico Group, said she came up with the ‘buy one, give one free’ concept in an attempt to stand out from the crowd.

She added: “Because the location is not the most ideal, we thought it was important to be innovative, rather than being a bog standard coffee shop. I don’t know of anything else like it.

Watch: Paul Cross at work at the cafe

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“We don’t want it to be profit-making, we’re looking to provide services, to give something back to the local community and support the people in it, particularly those in recovery.

“We don’t want any stigma attached to it. It could be a lawyer getting a free brew or a homeless person. There’s no distinction between the two.”

The café’s chef is Acorn employee Paul Cross, a former crack and heroin addict, who makes fresh meals and desserts with a different set of ingredients every day.

He is training up recovering addicts who use Acorn’s services and are volunteering at the café – to help build their confidence and a career.

Bean Good Cafe

Jill added she hoped the café would be a way for people with addiction problems to access services. It has an intentionally-large window into kitchen so others can be inspired by the volunteers training there.

Jill said: “A lot of people who are homeless or have an addiction feel like that don’t have anything to give back to society but that’s not true. Everybody has a skill and everybody has something they can give back.”

The café wants to team up with local supermarkets who will hopefully donate ingredients for free.

It is also looking to boost its income by providing corporate buffets and meals on wheels services to older people across Oldham and Rochdale.

Former drug addict reveals how he turned his life around with Acorn's help

Chef Paul Cross

A former drug addict who has turned his life around is now helping others to do the same – through his love of food.

Paul Cross turned to crime and spent time in prison after his heroin and crack use spiralled out of control.

He was disowned by his family, lost his job at a building company and his long-term partner as a result of his drug taking over a 10-year period.

But he went to rehab and was supported by Acorn to get a voluntary job washing pots in a café in Stockport.

Paul, who has been clean for more than two years, went on to become manager and is now chef at the Bean Good cafe in Oldham town centre – training up Acorn service users to work in catering too.

The 30-year-old, who lives in Grotton, Oldham, said: “I’ve always really loved food and from a young age I used to mess about in the kitchen, throwing different ingredients together.

The new not-for-profit cafe in Oldham town centre

“I have a real passion for baking, I come from a family of foodies and because my mum brought us up on her own on a limited budget I learned how to box clever with ingredients. It gave me a natural instinct to create things.”

Paul described how he worked in butchery and restaurants after leaving school – but ended up living in a crack house injecting heroin after he started using hard drugs.

He added: “One day I just thought, ‘I have to get out of this’.

“When I started treatment I didn’t have any confidence but, with Acorn’s help, I went to managing a café.

“Now I’m looking forward to watching Bean Good develop. I want to help the volunteers to gain confidence and to grow and I’d love to see somebody step into my shoes one day.”